Mukamana Beatrice drying fish. She was trained by FAO in fish post-harvest handling and value addition. ©FAO/Teopista Mutesi

It’s 5am. Beatrice Mukamana’s day has began. She rushes to the shore of Lake Kivu in Karongi District to buy fish from Kibuye Fishing project that is supplied by the boats. Fish has been shown to be a highly nutritious food. She buys the small-sized sardines and Lamprichthys tanganicanus, locally known as “Rwanda rushya”. Beatrice is a fish processor in Bwishyura sector. Upon getting home, she washes and dries the fish after adding salt. She will later fry them.

Beatrice is one of the members of the ‘Benimpuhwe fish processors’ cooperative. Her customers range from wholesalers from the capital, Kigali, to local people, some of whom have malnourished children.

Rwanda’s fishery sector is not a significant contributor to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) – at just 0.5 percent in 2016 (National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda, 2016). The National fish production is estimated at 28 450 tons currently, below the target of 112 000 tons in 2017. A significant proportion of the fish produced is also lost to spoilage due to poor post-harvest handling practices.

Developing capacity in fish handling and hygien

To improve food security in Rwanda and Eastern Africa, through increasing the availability of fish, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has conducted a series of practical training workshops to build capacity in fish handling and hygiene. The trainings have also emphasized value addition to improve local livelihoods, and to reduce the incidence of health problems from the consumption of unwholesome fish.

Beatrice, although passionate about her occupation, had limited knowledge as far as adding value to the fish is concerned. She however benefited from FAO’s training on fish post-harvest handling and value addition conducted from 10 - 14 July 2021, with practical lessons at Kibuye Fisheries Project Center in Karongi district. Along with 34 other participants from Rwanda and Ethiopia, she was taken through a hands-on training, which included modules on aquaculture hygiene, various processing methods, and handling of specific fish species.

Before this training, Beatrice had a number of challenges due to her inadequate knowledge on fish post processing and value addition. However, with the new techniques acquired from the FAO training, it is her belief that her clientele base will grow.

“I used to add a lot of salt to the fish; I have now learnt how to determine the right ratio of salt to water to use before drying and frying. I am also now aware of cutting down on salt based on the specific needs of my customers. For example, I can now even supply to hypertensive and diabetic people, who can only consume limited amounts of salt,” Beatrice said.

Now that she has acquired practical knowledge and skills in fish post-harvest handling and value addition, the sky is the limit for her business.

“My dream of operating my own fish processing company has been revived. I have been exposed to the right packaging of fish. With the knowledge from this training, I can obtain my operating license from the Rwanda Bureaus of Standards. I was reluctant to go for the licensing exam because I didn’t have all this information. I can now confidently conduct professional fish processing,” she added.

She intends to expand her business to include exportation of value-added fish. She also hopes to go into commercial fish farming in order to take advantage of the high demand for fish.